In effect we have shifted that money from maintenance to deferred maintenance and the compounding expense associated with failing to maintain our assets.
The Board in contrast spent over $5 million on various expenditures not recommended by our CEO, including climate change planning, plastic bag bans and pay raises for county managers.
It’s famously been said that elections have consequences. If voters want their assets maintained, then voters should vote for officials who are fully committed to that end.
I believe the public wants us to maintain our assets out the money they pay us now, rather than new taxes to pay for roads, buildings and parks. Maintaining what you have isn’t ideological, it’s practical. “